Gladio Free Europe

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We return to the dark foothills of the Carpathians in our continuing history of Transylvania. This episode focuses on Europe's most infamous countess, Elizabeth Bathory, accused of torturing and killing up to 600 hundred young girls gathered from across Central Europe. While it's now agreed that Elizabeth Bathory was not a vampire, and didn't even bathe in anyone's blood, whether or not she was a serial killer has led to some interesting debate.

Join us as we lay out the facts of the Bathory case and decide for yourself if this enigmatic nobleman woman was Transylvania's Jeffrey Dahmer or the innocent victim of a Habsburg conspiracy. Afterward, we chart the the development of the 19th century interest in both vampires and Eastern Europe, beginning with Lord Byron and culminating in Bram Stoker's 1897 masterpiece Dracula—not only one of the most influential novels ever composed, but also an amazing window into the imperial anxieties of late Victorian Britain.

Protect your neck, kid! We're back to Transylvania.